Share Your RG&E Story - Metro Justice

Share Your RG&E Story

You're not alone! Over the years, many of us have had bad experiences with RG&E, from minor inconveniences to major crises. High energy bills, poor service, and inhumane shutoffs are just some of the things we know need to change. Tell us your story to help show why we need to take our community's energy future back from greedy corporations like RG&E, and replace RG&E with a public utility!

Metro Justice often shares stories posted here on social media to build awareness around RG&E issues and momentum for a public utility as the solution. If you have any questions regarding how Metro Justice may share your story, please don't hesitate to reach out to our Organizing Director, Mohini Sharma ([email protected], 585-397-3534) or our Organizer and Policy Specialist for the RED Campaign, Michelle Wenderlich ([email protected], 585-397-3539). 

Link to our Resources for Utility Bills page.

 

  • S M
    commented 2024-11-06 07:21:29 -0500
    Been living in Rochester for over 4 years, never had an issue with RG&E before this year. I moved to a new apartment & kept waiting for them to email me a bill, but since there was a credit from my old place that covered the first few months I honestly thought they just weren’t billing me yet and would send me my bill once the credit was all used up. Four months in, they just mailed me a letter threatening they would shut my power off if J didn’t send them approx. 300 dollars…my monthly bill was around 50. I double checked my inbox and our mail and we never recieved a single bill from them before this letter. They have my address and email on file, and I have the setting on for eBills. Thankfully I’m in a position that I could pay that off, but it was still a stretch for us and frankly highly unethical they wouldn’t send my bill, just wait to send the threatening letter two weeks before the shutoff date. I told them right then and there as I paid their ridiculous fees that this situation is exactly why I support the switch to a public utility.
  • Karin Melvin
    commented 2024-10-24 11:11:00 -0400
    They were not reading meter in backyard claiming they can not access meter called and they finally read meter sent me a 1700 bill
  • M. Sanders
    commented 2024-10-07 08:55:15 -0400
    I had a smart meter for our electric service installed but due to past billing issues with RG&E’s gas service I refused the gas smart meter. I’ve lived in my house for a little over a year and have already experienced multiple billing issues with the gas meter. There are times I send in a reading and I don’t receive a bill, and when I call I’m told it’s because the reading was “too low.” When I ask for clarification, they tell me they didn’t accept my gas reading because it’s lower than the previous month’s reading. What does this mean? That they won’ calculate a bill unless the usage is at or above the previous month’s??


    When I moved out of my apartment in July 2023, I received a bill for almost $1,000 for the place despite my account being up to date. When I called I was told I was being billed to “make up for years of estimates,” which makes zero sense to me. I sent in readings, and usually nobody was home when the meter reader came (because we work days). I was also paying for the new tenants’ service despite requesting a shut off and transfer. I opened a case with the PSC and they ruled in RG&E’s favor. I have no idea how their billing practices are acceptable.
  • Justine Harris
    commented 2024-09-27 15:22:29 -0400
    Make it sense 5,9996.62 current past due 5,694.41 302.21 due on 10/10/24 They have a bill for 320.55 service @ 22 Renwood St. 4,364.84 5 Taylor Street fast forward total balance 5,996.62 and they sold my information to a credit collector RGE needs to go .
  • Anonymous
    commented 2024-09-25 22:40:24 -0400
    RGE was "approved for a %16 percent increase in 2023 over a 3 year period. In less than 6 months- Our Fee per “watts” has increased %39.2

    Electric Delivery Fee RGE – Nov 14,023 – per kwh .05308

    Electric Delivery Fee June 24, 2024 (six months) kwh .07388

    It’s not easy translating decimals in terms of fractions…

    a 0.0280 increase would appear small.

    You can use a percentage calculator – but to understand easier 5 going up to 7 is like 10 going up to 14 – %40 increase.

    Despite my mother having recent insulation improvements by Halco, her electricity for AC and additional heating has sky rocketed, blowing her budget by over over 250 this Summer.

    An incredible unexpected burden.
  • Gail Mott
    commented 2024-09-12 17:12:51 -0400
    Sept. 12, 2024


    REPORT TO METRO JUSTICE ABOUT RG&E INEPTITUDES


    Re: RG&E Upgrade


    When I returned from an August vacation there were several calls from RG&E about the upgrade. I also had a letter from RG&E asking me to call about this, which I did. I was told someone would be getting back to me and that I did not need to do anything else.


    Today a similar letter came, I made the call and the person answering took down the information and said there was nothing else to be done, that someone would be calling me. When I told her that’s the same thing I had heard two weeks ago she transferred me to another RG&E telephone number, telling me that the number I called (866-734-3821) was no longer handling this matter. She also told me that the gas meter had been changed but that there was a screw loose somewhere and that I should give that information to the next person I talked with. After waiting a while the next agent asked for all the same information, said the monthly opt-out fee had already been put into effect and she would have to see if she could change it back. She also said I’d have to call another number about the loose screw. I told her I was not prepared to do that – if someone had reported a loose screw it was their responsibility to fix it – not for me to inform them of that again. The agent was away for a while and when she returned said that it all had been taken care of and that I would be hearing from someone within two weeks. When I told her that is what I had been told earlier today and also two weeks ago she simply repeated what she had said.


    Gail Mott

    288 Melrose St.

    Rochester, NY 14619
  • Stefan Eaton
    commented 2024-08-27 11:26:18 -0400
    Posted but burried on reddit as well: Looking for both advice and maybe legal advice as well if anyone knows someone. Maybe some of you are also looking into this as well.


    Try this. They sent me a bill for over 4k this month. I called about it. They said it was an issue and would ifx it and call me back. They never did. So, I called constellation. Theybsaid rge canceled my last 8 bills (7 already paid) and then just pretty much said the 4 meter reads their techs did were all lies so they had to adjust it in the office to fit their narrative. They said this in different words, but they pretty much said it. Took us 3 hours and 4-5 “disconnections” today alone to speak with whoever the hell “Mr. Wright” is. Apparently he’s the big cheese in the Binghamton call center? Don’t know how we can’t just make an appointment at the local offices to speak with someone in person.


    Anyways, this man cut me off at every turn of the corner and wouldn’t answer my questions, would gonoff in a tangent about some other non issue on our bill. When I would repeat the question he would say he’s not going over it again and diligently tried to get us to start a payment plan. This is all after a month of calling to figure this out. Every time we called the bills were further altered and more convoluted. Like sending a bill from them and constellation then considering it late, compiling the bill as a forwarded balance and sending it as a new bill. Truth is, they claim we have owed constellation hundreds of dollars every month. Constellation, on the other hand says that, other than the most recent/ disputed bill, we haven’t ever owed them more than like 104 a month. They were shocked because on the new bills that rge corrected (after 4 actual in person reads that I was there for) represented that in the last 6 months we somehow used the exact same amount of energy every other month. How that is possible is an anomaly to me. Like to the exact kwh.


    Remember, all of these bills were canceled and reissued the same day I spoke to them on the phone about this for the first time.


    I have almost every phone call recorded with conflicting information. I have almost every paper bill. I have video footage of their agents in my yard taking the meter readings that they now say we’re never taken. This is amongst other evidence and proof. Not tonwear a tin foil hat or anything…


    I wish you all the best.
  • Meghan R
    commented 2024-07-08 10:47:19 -0400
    I moved into an apartment in October of 2022. It is a duplex, of which I had the top half. I paid RG&E reliably even though some of the numbers certainly seemed off – bill hikes even though we no longer were using an in-window AC unit, seemingly random KW hour bumps, etc. All was the usual level of frustration and inconsistency fitting with their reputation until late 2023, when I was slapped with an over $1,500 bill.


    They had not checked the meter since summer of 2021, over a year before I moved in and insisted that I was liable for the previous tennent’s fees. It is important to note that the meter is not accessible to us, as it is in the basement and therefore in our downstairs neighbors’ rented space. It took numerous hours on the phone, multiple refusals of their default setting “Sorry, there’s nothing I can do, you’re just going to have to pay”, and finally getting a manager to admit that it was not fair for me to pay for someone else’s year of electricity overages for them to only make me pay a part of the total. I was still peeved, but content that I wasn’t footing all of the bill on an entry-level 20yr old’s income. Less than a month later I was hit with another huge bill, not coincidentally, stating it was from right when I moved in and they had missed it for over a year?… yeah, sure.


    I know how scary debt can be, so I will always pay what I owe before budgeting for groceries and fun. My wardrobe is mostly hand-me-downs and work provided polos, we don’t go out more than monthly, and the only thing we regularly splurge on is higher-end dog food, but that’s $80 over the course of a few weeks. I have never missed a payment for RG&E, nor any other major bills like insurance, rent, T-Mobile, or my car, so I just don’t understand how this can happen. Their monopoly over Rochester and surrounding areas needs to be broken. If I can impart any advice to those looking to move here, make sure your home is supplied by Fairport Electric – the area is on the rise and rent may be climbing so I wish you luck, but it’s certainly worth it to be RG&E free.
  • Courtney D
    commented 2024-06-26 17:38:25 -0400
    The billing issues with RGE began last fall when I moved to a new address. I was/am happy to be in a place where I can now read the meter myself as opposed to the building where I lived previously.


    My father worked for RGE for over 30 years before he retired in 1994. He started as a meter reader and then spent the remainder of his career in customer service at the main office on East Avenue. I share this information when I contact RGE about billing errors, because I want it to be clearly understood that I KNOW how a.) to read a meter and how b.) customers are supposed to be treated. I learned both things from my father as well as his former RGE co-workers.


    Now it seems as though there is little to no accountability when it comes to generating accurate bills or to correcting costly billing errors. After months and months and months of repeated complaints to RGE (in-person, via email, and telephone), I was finally issued a $400+ credit to my account that I cannot yet say covers the full extent of overpayments due to billing errors since September of last year.


    I am certain the only reason I received the credit is because I read the meter myself every month, and when I do, I take a photo of both gas and electric meters as well as a screenshot of the reading that I actually submit online to RGE, both before and after I hit “Enter.” Doing so has created consistent irrefutable documentation of my actual monthly energy usage that comes in handy like it did recently when RGE over-billed me, yet again, by 1020 kWh.


    I suspect the fact that I also cc’d Congressman Morelle’s office in on the last email to RGE helped, that and the fact that I made a point of mentioning my conversation with a member of the Congressman’s staff concerning the ongoing issues with billing during my most recent telephone conversation with an RGE customer service representative.


    Yesterday RGE installed “smart meters” at the house that are supposed to give me “more control over [my] monthly bills.” Somehow, I know that, despite the new meters, RGE will still manage to over-bill me and others. With that in mind, I have no intention of changing my monthly practice of reading the meters myself, capturing images, and calculating actual usage to keep RGE in check.
  • Douglas J.
    commented 2024-06-26 12:53:58 -0400
    I moved out of a residence a little over a year ago. I was going through a lot at that point with my employer at the time going through bankruptcy and adjusting to living at a new place. As time went on I forgot altogether about RG&E because they NEVER sent me a final bill or tried to contact me at any point. Imagine the anger when I received a bill from a collection agency a few days ago. NYS PSC needs to strip Avangrid / RG&E of their franchise in Rochester and give it to National Grid.
  • Douglas J.
    commented 2024-06-26 12:53:58 -0400
    I moved out of a residence a little over a year ago. I was going through a lot at that point with my employer at the time going through bankruptcy and adjusting to living at a new place. As time went on I forgot altogether about RG&E because they NEVER sent me a final bill or tried to contact me at any point. Imagine the anger when I received a bill from a collection agency a few days ago. NYS PSC needs to strip Avangrid / RG&E of their franchise in Rochester and give it to National Grid.
  • Elizabeth Larter
    commented 2024-06-15 16:28:32 -0400
    I am a public school teacher and I had always chosen budget billing to keep my utility costs consistent and predictable during the summer months when I don’t have income. But in the past year, billing has been completely inconsistent. And even though I have autopay set up and money keeps being taken from my account, when I check online I get messages about being at risk for losing budget billing for missed payments (even though I’m not being charged my budget billing amount, or on consistent days of the mont). I constantly worry that I’m going to miss payments or get hit with a huge bill out of nowhere. RG&E outsourcing their business office and billing has been a disaster and people with no other options are stuck with unreliable service and being taken advantage of in a way that shows RG&E is no longer invested in serving the people of Rochester.
  • Dustin Halldow
    commented 2024-05-08 14:57:41 -0400
    Extremely inconsistent billing. Often receive bills twice in one month and then nothing for two months. I have turned on auto pay multiple times to help make sure I don’t miss these spiritic bills. Then autopay is randomly shut off for no reason and now I have missed payments. I have bills that show multiple months of usage on one bill. I have called and messaged about tree limbs on lines and lines that have been pulled off my house and no response at all.
  • Arnold McGriff
    commented 2024-05-06 19:25:16 -0400
    They have stolen more than 25 thousand dollars from me and I want it back.
  • Sandra Smith
    commented 2024-04-12 17:36:59 -0400
    In December 2023, RGE read my gas meter. It is now April 12, 2024. I took a picture of my meter and went to call in the numbers. The woman that I spoke with told me that that must not be right. She said they had me at using 85 and now I’m at 1100(More than a years worth of heat)

    I told her that I had been reading my meter for the majority of the last 25 years and that I knew that I was reading it accurately, but that that was completely impossible. I have one gas furnace, and one hot water heater and no other gas appliances, I keep my heat at 68 or below at all times I always have.

    Having that picture of my meter I thought was going to protect me and now I see that I am actually hurting myself by simply giving them an accurate picture. I Have no idea where to turn at this point By her calculations I will owe thousands of dollars and I could not pay this if I wanted to.

    Like many of you I am scared and confused how they are able to get away with this.

    I’m trying to be proactive. I don’t know what else to do.
  • Cecil Scott
    commented 2024-04-09 16:37:23 -0400
    We never had any problems with RG&E until about Three months ago. We began receiving Bills back to back. For an example we received a bill that due April 18th today we received a another bill that due for April 22th. Last month we spoke to a customer service rep who told us it was a billing error and that it would be fix. We are seniors and live on fix incomes we can’t afford to pay for double bills which are extremely higher than previous bills. I would like to add for years I read my meter and never had a problem until they installed the smart meters.
  • Ronald Sampson
    commented 2024-04-03 19:18:32 -0400
    Feb. Gas Bill is to HIGH!!!

    I always use my phone to photograph my meter readings before I submit them. I don’t track their values month to month. I just submit them. On average my winter gas usage is around 170 therms 200 max. When I go the last build it stated I used 1200 therms, which is almost equivalent of what I used for all of last year. Reviewing the photographs I see that the January reading was 9795 while the February reading was 0995. We only use gas for heating the home , on demand hot water, and stove top cooking. Is it possible that there was a mechanical failure at rollover and the middle two digits never zeroed out? We had done nothing different during that time period to cause the usage of that much gas.
  • Ed Donnelly
    commented 2024-04-02 08:52:49 -0400
    Unfortunately I now have a new, personal challenging RG&E meter read-billing error story about being overcharged for multiple apartments in January 2024, and still not resolved in April 2024.

    The typical monthly bill in one apartment in our owner-occupied house where I am one of the landlords and hold the account, was overcharged 8+ times, $350 instead of $35-$45. Another apartment was overcharged 4+ times, and another apartment, was not billed because of meter reading discrepancies. All these errors because the field staff person reading the meter read many or all of our meters incorrectly, ugh! I always read the meters and send them every month, but the RGE staff person overrides my readings for billing!

    Would you share my story, RG&E quick to bill and slow or hesitant to refund? You know, that is my error, RG&E would likely have quickly sent a shut off notice!

    Thank you for supporting the effort to find a study for a public utility!

    Sincerely -Ed
  • l s
    commented 2024-03-25 17:58:25 -0400
    I moved out of an apartment in June of 2022. I paid all of my bills, and everything was normal. I confirmed with my landlord that everything was as it should be as far as all the utilities. In September of 2023, I got a letter from a collections agency for an unpaid utility at that old address for the month of August 2022, after I had moved out. I had no letters calls emails or anything from RGE or the landlord prior to that, so it was quite a surprise. I tried talking to RGE or the collections agency for a long time, but it was just too insufferable and I eventually just paid the collections. So I got an unpaid utility on my credit and I had to pay an extra months gas and electric for a time where I didn’t even live there, and it was effectively impossible to contact anybody about the error.
  • Caitlin Young
    commented 2024-03-22 11:04:01 -0400
    We used to pay $150 a month and now we’re paying anywhere from $500-$900 a month just to keep our power on and we’re in debt to them. When we first started our accounts we didn’t receieve a bill OR any account information for 2 months. I contacted them and they had put the account back into the landlords name 2 hours after switching it to ours. We owed $700 for our FIRST bill because of THEIR mistake. The last amount I paid was almost $900 and 2 weeks later I get a bill olfor almost $500… This is has been so financially strenuous and we cannot keep doing this.
  • Tristano Korlou
    commented 2024-02-25 14:02:32 -0500
    RGE is a legalized SCAM. NEVER in my life living any other state, including Connecticut, the most expensive state in the union, have I ever found a need to contact my utility provider about a billing issues. Moved back to Monroe County recently and being asked to set aside $5,000 a year to pay for utilities here? Are you kidding me? What kind of localized EXTORTION is this? I feel sorry for the elderly and those who can’t speak the language who can’t stand up and ask from protection from this legalized SCAM and monopoly we call Rochester Gas And Electric.
  • Loryl Stahl
    commented 2024-02-24 16:20:20 -0500
    I have had incorrect RG&E bills for 2 yrs now. At one point, It got corrected, then happened again September 2023.Every month, I get a bill for $0, I call and explain that can’t be right, and new bills are sent, but I’m not sure those amounts are right. Last month I was billed twice for the same usage. As of now I’m current, waiting to see what happens next month.
  • Kerry Cessna
    commented 2024-02-01 13:51:04 -0500
    I’ve been consistently billed for amounts well over $200 dollars (I’m a single person, living in a small apartment – there’s minimal electrical use ) for about a year now. Most recently, RG&E is charging me $690~ because I haven’t paid since the June-July, but according to my bank records, I most certainly have. A bill sent my way in the month of January was $268~ – how could I suddenly owe 3x that amount? There’s no possible way I utilized enough energy to warrant a $268 charge in the first place. And sure, there was even a period of two-three months where no bill was sent to me at all , but why should I have to pay (literally) for their mistake? I couldn’t have payed those missing bills, I wasn’t given a choice.

    I’d switch providers if I could.
  • Lorraine Woerner
    commented 2024-02-01 08:56:46 -0500
    Why do I receive a text message saying that I have until Feb 2 to submit my meter reading, yet when I go online or call to do it on Feb 1, they say they cannot accept it? This is not right!
  • Elisa DeCastro
    commented 2024-01-31 12:00:06 -0500
    My rg&e bill is normally 120.00 my kwh was low for the month of December I received a bill for 800.00 my kwh quadrupled and the month of January another one bill for 650.00 with the kwh being tripled that month. I live in a tiny 2 bedroom in near Lyell and lake ave my rent is only 925.00 I make only 2,000 a month how am I suppose to live . Rg&e says take it up with my landlord. My landlord says take it up with rg&e I’m gonna be homeless next month . The new meter was installed this past August.
  • Brian McGahan
    commented 2024-01-26 18:13:24 -0500
    I switched over to the smart electric meter in November. My kwh usage according to RG&E has triple the past 3 months. Triple what my usage had been the past 17 years in my house with no changes to energy usage.
  • Rita Johnson
    commented 2024-01-08 12:36:20 -0500
    RGE has been a God send for my family. During our struggles they have worked with us on our bills and kept it so we would not be out in the cold, literally. Thank you RGE for being an upstanding company and caring about your customers!
  • Emily Smith
    commented 2023-12-09 13:47:01 -0500
    RG+E will go several months without billing me, and then retroactively charged me for those months in my next boll. Of course that left me with only a month to pay it, and the amount owed was HUGE!
  • Rachel Vega
    commented 2023-12-05 16:59:53 -0500
    HI im a mother of 2 and expecting me and my partner have been struggling for years to pay a old bill that is over 9 years old and they refuse to take off that amount, so we were told to be put on budget billing now in order to even go on budget billing we had to come up with 495.00 dollars just to to start and couldnt get an amount any lower than that even though we couldnt afford it, so we had to burrow the money so we were put on a budget and our budget is 395.00 a month we cant afford it we get no assistance everything is paid out of pocket and i now only work partime due to not being able to afford any child care. now im getting termination notices asking us to pay the full amount which is 2,624.85 is insane. How do they expect us to pay that in just a week. Both of my children are under 18 and me and my oldest son has asthma how are we supposed to live in the cold if i cant pay.
  • Andrew McClain
    commented 2023-12-05 15:17:02 -0500
    I didn’t receive a bill from RGE for over a year, they told me there was some computer error, after a long wait on the phone, and they said to just keep sending them the approx $ each month. I sure didn’t send them a dime until I waited and waited wondering what the heck is going on here, and what is my bill going to actually look like when it finally arrives. This felt like a new level of ineptitude, and what is my other option? Leave the grid? Well maybe.

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